Not being a fan of UC4, or a fan of Chloe, I really wasn't sure what to expect, but I loved it.
I wasn't immediately on board at the start, with the walking market section and had some trepidation going into the open world section, but I really enjoyed the open world this time, especially thanks to the varied "side missions" to collect the tokens.
From then on I was on board. Some of the stuff felt somewhat derivative of past entries and Naughty Dog ideas, like the train, and jumping to vehicles like the end of UC3, and the elephant felt reminiscent of the giraffes in TLoU, but most of those sections called back some of my favorite moments in those games.
I don't know if it was a conscious effort, but I like that not long into the game you use one of those crappily handling carts - which I hated in 4, but it doesn't go as expected and they decide not to use carts again. And they don't. I hope that was a tongue-in-cheek joke about how bad the carts were. My one main gripe is that I still feel like the driving handles somewhat poorly, like one of those crappy carts with an engine strapped to it. Regardless of if you're in mud, you feel like you're in mud.
I never really liked Chloe. I always felt like she was just a stereotypical, two-bit thief, predominantly designed for eye candy. However, thanks to the exposition here, I did a 180 on her. I especially like that the game retains the humorous feel with the quips between her and Nadine, and even Sam once he enters the picture. Whereas UC4 should have packed the emotional punch, it missed the mark with me, but fleshing out her backstory was terrific and poignant.
I think my only other minor gripe is the voice acting. The diversity of the cast is great, but I had a tough time deciphering both characters accents, especially Nadine's. I felt like I was relying on subtitles far more than normal, and I feel like the audio wasn't as loud as it could have been. Still, its a pretty trivial issue for a franchise known for globetrotting around the entire world.
Visuals were excellent, as to be expected. I love all the animal life scattered around. The foliage keeps getting more impressive. But most of all I loved Nadine's forearms. Everyone in the franchise should have Popeye arms from all the climbing, but Nadine's veins are impressive.
Overall, everything was better than UC4: the pacing, the balance of types of gameplay, the puzzles, and the set pieces. I enjoyed the rope mechanic much more too. I didn't want everything to end, however if it were longer, I wouldn't want it to be as drawn out as 4 either.
As has been the case lately, I spend a ton of time in Photo Mode as well.
Here are my 54 shots.
I'm gonna hop over to the screenshot thread, but here are a few of my spoiler-y favorites:
They showed it in the launch trailer
I regret watching that trailer.
